System and method for biometric authorization for financial transactions

ABSTRACT

The present invention is a system and method of biometric-based identity verification for authorizing financial transactions between a consumer and a merchant, said system comprising distributed processing to facilitate biometric matching and various types of financial transactions to facilitate said system&#39;s integration into current financial networks. System users register at least one biometric identifier, personal and/or business identity-verifying data, and financial account information. A user presents a biometric sample obtained from the user&#39;s person and the user&#39;s system ID number to conduct financial transactions. This data is used to authenticate the user&#39;s identity and authorize transfer of funds from the user&#39;s registered financial account to the designated recipient&#39;s account by matching the presented transaction biometric with at lease one registered biometric template and without the use of a man-made financial account token or identity token.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.10/251,305, filed Sep. 20, 2002, which claims priority benefit under 35U.S.C. §119(e) from provisional application No. 60/324,229, filed Sep.21, 2001, both of which are incorporated by reference herein, in theirentireties, for all purposes.

NOT APPLICABLE

This application relates generally to financial payments. Moreparticularly, the present invention relates to a tokenless system andmethod for authorization of financial transactions through a shareddatabase using a biometric and identification number (ID) foridentification.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Current methods of point-of-sale (POS) financial payments force aconsumer to possess and present some type of man-made token in order tomake a purchase. The simplest financial token is cash, wherein thetoken, itself, has value. More sophisticated financial tokens includechecks, credit cards, debit cards, and value cards. These tokens linktheir owners with financial accounts, wherein either the owner hasdeposited cash or has promised to deposit cash in the future.

There are various problems with these tokens. One, they can easily belost, stolen, or fraudulently reproduced, leaving the token's ownervulnerable to financial loss. Two, they are expensive for financialinstitutions to create and eventually those fees get passed on to thetoken owner. Three, these tokens are inconvenient to carry. If aconsumer wishes to make any type of purchase, they are forced to carryone or more of these tokens in order to do so. In addition, whether thetoken is a check, card, or cash, the owner is still forced to carry itsome type of book or wallet, adding the owner's everyday carry load.Four, although tokens such as credit and debit cards are thin and rathersmall, which aids their convenience to carry, they can become scratched,cracked, broken, or the numbers on them may become unreadable, leavingthe customer without access to the financial account represented by thattoken. Five, because of prevalent fraud, merchants often requireconsumers who present a check or card to present identity verifyinginformation such as a photo ID in addition to the token representingaccess to a financial account in order to verify that the personpresenting the token is its rightful owner. This adds time and expenseto the payment process for the merchant.

Tokens, specifically credit and debit cards, have revolutionized the wayconsumers shop and have given consumers more financial protection andfreedom. More people today who carry credit and/or debit cards insteadof cash do so for convenience or funds security purposes. However,despite their size and security advantages, the consumer is still forcedto carry a different token for each account, is still forced to find andpresent that token during a purchase, and is often required to presentadditional photo identification to verify that they are indeed, theaccount holder of the presented token. The token-based financial system,although it works, is still not as secure or convenient as other formsof account presentation could be.

Alternative solutions to the above-described systems include a tokenbased financial access system combined with a personal identificationnumber (PIN). This is a more secure manner of accepting and processingthese financial account tokens but is no more convenient than theoriginal token-based system because it still requires the account ownerto carry a token. Another proposed security improvement to thetoken-based financial access system are smartcards, or tokens equippedwith a silicon chip, which record the owning consumer's biometric or PINand require the consumer to present a biometric or PIN when the use thetoken. Again, this is a more secure form of the token-based system, yetit provides no more convenience to the consumer. An added downside tothe smartcard is its cost of production, which is nearly $3 to $5 percard. And although smart cards are an improvement of the more widelyused magnetic token, they are still token-based and are still subject toall factors involved in using a token, including the risk of loss,theft, or counterfeit. What would improve the security, convenience, andcost effectiveness of financial account access while addressing theinherent problems of the token-based system is a tokenless financialaccess system.

Alternative tokenless financial systems have also been proposed in U.S.Pat. Nos. 5,613,012, 5,615,217, 5,838,812, 5,870,723, 6,230,148, and6,269,348. However, the systems proposed in these patents areproblematic for two main reasons: 1) because they are inefficient in themanner they allocated the work load of the biometric comparison andmatching during an identity verifying process and 2) because they do notinclude functions currently used in credit transactions.

Comparing and matching biometric information at a central database, asthese systems propose, requires a powerful central server to perform thematching function of numerous simultaneous transactions. Such a systemseems inefficient when the transaction devices that the proposedbiometric transaction readers would be linked to have so much unusedprocessing power. By distributing the matching function to various localdevices (POS electronic cash registers and other POS transactiondevices), the workload on the central database would be reduced,providing quicker, more efficient transactions with inexpensive, alreadyexisting devices.

Similarly, a system that only provides a sale function without providingfor other important transactions that currently exist in the creditworld, such as credit, void, and force, is incomplete and requiresmerchants to perform such transactions through token-based procedures, aprocess that not only reintroduces the previously addressed problems ofthe token but also weakens the significance of the system.

Considering the inconvenience and vulnerability associated with thetoken-based prior art of financial payment and due to the inefficientand incomplete methods of current biometric-based financial paymentsystems, what is needed is a system and method financial authorizationand transactions that is tokenless, that is secure, that offers the fullfunctionality of current token-based financial payment systems, and thatdistributes the processing of biometric samples to the point of sale.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore, an aspect of the present invention to offer merchantsand consumers a convenient and secure way to conduct various types offinancial transactions with the use of a biometric read (such as afingerprint) and system ID (SID) number entry and without the use of anyidentity-verifying or monetary-representative tokens.

The system of the invention comprises registration of a plurality ofmerchants, employees, and consumers so that these parties may conductenrollment, transaction and account access functions within the system.

A merchant enrolls in the system by providing merchant financial accountinformation and merchant identity verifying information in order toenroll consumers and employees into the system, perform variousfinancial transactions, and perform account maintenance functions.

A consumer enrolls into the system by providing identity-verifyinginformation, a biometric sample, a SID number, and one or more sets offinancial account information. Once enrolled in the system, consumersmay use the system in order to perform financial transactions, conductsystem maintenance, change account parameters, and verify the consumer'sidentity or age, by simply presenting a biometric and SID at aregistered, properly-equipped station.

System access, identity verification, and financial transactions areapproved within the system if the consumer's biometric read is matchedwith a consumer's enrollment biometric read stored in that consumer'saccount and if the system access meets preset parameters. An example ofsuch a parameter might be, but should not be limited to, the accessedaccount not containing negative information. System access approval,whether the access is for maintenance or transaction purposes, isgranted automatically by the central database or local device.

It is also an aspect of the present invention to provide registeredconsumers and merchants with a wide range of financial transactionabilities, specifically sale transactions, authorization transactions,post-authorization transactions, void transactions, void re-addtransactions, credit transactions, and force transactions.

Although a number of salient features of the present invention have beendescribed above, the detailed description that follows provides a moredetailed exposition of additional features of the inventions as it isembodied in various forms.

In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of theinvention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is notlimited to its application to the details of construction and to thearrangements of the components set forth in the following description orillustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of otherembodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways.Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminologyemployed herein are for the purposes of description and should not beregarded as limiting.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE DRAWINGS

Additional objects and advantages of the present invention will beapparent in the following detailed description read in conjunction withthe accompanying drawing figures.

FIG. 1 illustrates a general architecture of a system for biometricauthorization for financial transactions according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart of a process for consumer enrollment intothe biometric authorization for financial transaction system accordingto an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart of a merchant employee enrollment in thebiometric authorization for financial transactions system according toan embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of a process for one-transmissiontransaction with an account selection option using a biometricauthorization for financial transactions system according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart of a one-transmission transaction withaccount auto selection in the biometric authorization for financialtransactions system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart of a two-transmission transaction withaccount selection option in a biometric authorization for financialtransactions system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart of a two-transmission transaction withaccount auto selection in a biometric authorization for financialtransactions system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 illustrates a flowchart of a credit transaction in the biometricauthorization for financial transactions system according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 illustrates a flowchart of a credit transaction with biometricmatching at the local device in a biometric authorization for financialtransactions system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 illustrates a flowchart of a void transaction in the biometricauthorization for financial transactions system according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 illustrates a flowchart of a system ID re-entry or optionalsecondary ID input loop that may be performed during a transaction oraccount access in a biometric authorization for financial transactionssystem according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 illustrates a flowchart of a consumer account access with abiometric read for management purposes in a biometric authorization forfinancial transactions system according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

An embodiment of the present invention is a system and method forauthorization of a financial transaction using a biometric sample and IDnumber.

Referring to FIG. 1, a general architecture overview of a system forbiometric authorization of financial transactions according to anembodiment of the present invention is illustrates. One aspect of thesystem embodiment of the invention is the central database 102, whereinconsumer system accounts, merchant system accounts, employee systemaccounts, and various other accounts and databases are held.

Accounts within the system's central database are shared across aplurality of enrolled merchants. Additionally, in an alternateembodiment of the present invention, accounts are “marked” to denoteaccount status. By way of illustration and not as a limitation, accountsmay be unmarked, marked partial enrollment, marked warning, or markednegative. An unmarked account indicates the account owner must completeenrollment into the system before the account owner is entitled toaccess the account. An account marked warning indicates an account withpossible fraudulent activity in the system. An account marked negativeindicates an account with fraudulent activity in the system.

Consumer accounts comprise at least one system identification number(SID) and other information useful for authenticating a consumer,associating a consumer with a financial account, and completingtransactions. By way of illustration and not as a limitation, a consumeraccount may comprise consumer's government identification number(s) andcorresponding state(s) or issue, home address, and a telephone number,one or more biometric sample; one or more financial account (e.g.checking, credit, or value); and a consumer may choose a SID from any ofthe previously listed numbers, may create a SID, provided the SID isunique to the central database 102, or may choose from system suggestedID numbers.

Merchant accounts comprise information useful for authenticating amerchant, associating a merchant with a financial account, andcompleting transactions. By way of illustration and not as a limitation,a merchant account may comprise a SID, merchant location, and a phonenumber; a list of terminal ID numbers (TIDs) of the terminals designatedto perform system functions; one or more financial accounts; andenrollment and transaction approval/decline parameters.

Employee accounts comprise information useful for authenticating anemployee and completing transactions. By way of illustration and not asa limitation, an employee account may comprise a government ID number, ahome address, and a telephone number; one or more biometric sample; aSID; and a employee system access parameters.

Again referring to the structure of the general architecture overview ofa system for biometric authorization of financial transactions, theinvention's central database 102 is connected to a network, such as, butnot limited, to the Internet. As illustrated in FIG. 1, this network isconnected to a merchant database 112 registered with the system and afinancial institution 108. As would be apparent to those skilled in theart of the present invention, other entities could perform the functionsof merchant database 112 and the financial institution 108 withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention. For example, some orall of the functions of these two entities could be performed by thecentral database 102.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the merchant database 112stores various system accounts, communicates enrollment and transactioninformation to central databus 102. In another embodiment, the merchantdatabase 112 further comprises connections to at least one transactionregister 118 with a built-in biological identification device (BID) orwith connections to a peripheral device with BID capabilities 120. Byway of illustration and not as a limitation, the transaction registermay be an electronic cash register (ECR) or other POS device. In thedescription of the embodiments that follow, the BID comprises afingerprint identification device, however this is not meant as alimitation. Other BIDs may be utilized in the present invention withoutdeparting from its scope. For example, the BID may be a voiceprintreader, an iris recognition device, or any other type of biologicalidentification device known in the art.

In an alternate embodiment, transaction register 118 is used for anumber of duties, including but not limited to communicating enrollmentand transaction information to the merchant database 112, andcommunicating enrollment and transaction information to central database102. In yet another embodiment, merchant database 112 comprisesconnections to at least one customer service computer 114 with BIDcapabilities 116. In this embodiment, customer service computer 114communicates enrollment and transaction information to the merchant'slocal database 112 and communicates enrollment and transactioninformation to the system's central database 102.

In an embodiment of the present invention, financial institution 108holds any number of merchant financial accounts and consumer financialaccounts and communicates with central database 102 regarding enrollmentand transaction information. In another embodiment of the presentinvention, a merchant's financial account(s) and a consumer's financialaccount(s) are held at different financial institutions. In thisembodiment, the system comprises connections to all financialinstitutions wherein said accounts are held.

In an alternate embodiment of the present invention, the system furthercomprises a comupter 104; a wireless device 122, such as a cell phone,personal data assistant, or pager; a third party financial database 127,such as SCAN, Telecheck, Equifax, or VISAnet; and a kiosk 128.

Party enrollment into the invention's system may be conducted through aregistered merchant's local system. A local system is defined here as amerchant's system of connection information processors, including butnot limited to the merchant's local database(s) 112, transactionprocessing register(s) 118, and merchant computer(s) 114. A system kiosk128 might also be considered part of said local system if it is soconfigured and integrated into said local system.

Parties interested in enrolling in the invention's system further havethe option to pre-enroll, that is provide a partial enrollment, byproviding only a portion of the required enrollment information, for theinvention's services via a computer 104, a kiosk 128, or a wirelessdevice 122, which is connected to a network, preferably but withoutlimitation the Internet, which is connected to the invention's centraldatabase 102. Businesses may also pre-enroll employees for consumeraccounts within the system. In doing so, a business might register withthe system's central database a list of employees, an employee numberfor each employee, or any other information that an employee might bewilling to share for pre-enrollment purposes. Merchants might alsopre-enroll employees for employee accounts within the system in the samemanner as described in the above business pre-enrollment description.

Other forms of pre-enrollment may include registering with theinvention's central database purchased, or acquired, databaseinformation that might supply the system with various individual'sinformation. Said information could be easily entered into the centraldatabase of the present invention so that when a consumer whoseinformation was recorded in one of those databases wants to enroll inthe system of the invention, some or all of that information containedwithin said purchased or acquired database would already be availablewithin the system and would not need to be entered at the time ofenrollment, thus saving time for both the consumer and the merchantduring enrollment.

Financial transactions are conducted within the system through a numberof devices including but not limited to a customer service centercomputer 114 with attached BID 116 or a transaction processing register118 with attached BID 120. In another embodiment, the system isconfigured to conduct financial transactions through remote devices,such as a PC 104, a wireless device 122, or a kiosk 128. A remote deviceis here defined as any device connected to a network through which thedevice may communicate with the system's central database and which isnot connected to a registered merchant's database. Such remote devicesand all other remote devices which communicate with the system's centraldatabase may or may not contain BID capabilities or be connected to aperipheral with BID capabilities. Although the kiosk 128 with BID 130 islisted above as a remote device, it is envisioned but is not limited toreside in the merchant location for enrollments, pre-enrollments,account maintenance, and purchases. The kiosk 128 may be configured as aremote device or a local device depending on whether or not theregistered merchant desires to integrate the kiosk into its localsystem.

Consumer, merchant, and employee account management may be conducted atany of the following: a consumer or business computer 104, which may ormay not have an attached BID 106, and is connected to a network, whichis preferably but without limitation the Internet, which is connected tothe invention's central database 102; any participating merchant'scustomer service counter computer 114 with an attached BID 116 or anyparticipating merchant's transaction register 118 with attached BID 120,which are both connected to the merchant database 112 which is connectedto the invention's central database 102 via a network such as theInternet; one or more of a consumer's wireless devices 122, which may ormay not have an attached BID 124, connected to a wireless network whichis connected to a network such as the Internet connected to theinvention's central database 102; or a kiosk 128 with attached BID 130and which is attached to the invention's central database 102 via anetwork such as the Internet. It is envisioned that merchants whoperform account management have specialized permission to do so. It isalso envisioned that a portion or all of employee account management maybe conducted by the merchant or the employee.

Referring to FIG. 2, a flowchart of a consumer's enrollment processaccording to an embodiment of the present invention is illustrated. Aconsumer begins enrollment. The consumer is prompted to provide personalinformation, a SID number, a biometric sample, and one or more financialaccount 202.

By way of illustration and not as a limitation, the personal informationprovided during the enrollment may simply be driver's license data readfrom a magnetic stripe or bar code or may include a social securitynumber, address, phone number, or any other information about theenrolling consumer. Said personal information may be swiped, scanned,hand keyed, or entered by another means by the consumer or the merchant.Information might also be captured in a digital image scan of the tokenor tokens which provides the consumer's personal information.

The consumer's biometric sample is entered via a biometric scanner. Thissample is then translated to and stored in template form. Template formsof a scanned biometrics are generally used for biometric comparisons. Inan additional embodiment, the digital scan of the biometric is itselfalso stored in the central database. Such an embodiment that also storesthe biometric digital scan is useful for reasons such as, but withoutlimitation, biometric matching purposes, security procedures (in thecase of an individual attempting to fraudulently access the system), orinformation protection in the event database information is lost ortemplates need to be re-constructed due to hardware revisions.

The system may optionally be configured to allow a consumer to registermore than one type of biometric sample or two or more of the same typeof biometric during enrollment. For example, the invention's system maybe configured to accept a fingerprint biometric along with a face scanbiometric, or the system may be configured to allow the consumer toregister finger scans from more than one finger. Storing a biometrictemplate in the consumer's system account that includes data from morethan one biometric system type enables that consumer the convenience ofpresenting any one of the consumer's previously scanned biometrics foraccount access authorization and/or finds transfer within the system ofthe invention.

Financial account information is centered via magnetic stripe read, handkeying, or another input method. Checking account information is enteredby a magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) read, an opticalcharacter recognition (OCR) read, hand keying, or entered by anothermethod of input. The method of information input is also recorded foreach enrollment. In an alternate embodiment, the system is configured totake a digital image of the monetary-representative token the consumernormally uses to access the presented financial account and store thisdigital scan in the consumer's system account.

The SID is a number used to help identify individuals enrolled in theinvention's system. A SID is not equivalent to a PIN used for financialATM and debit transactions. Rather, a SID simplifies the verification ofthe biometric sample. The SID may be a unique number (a number with nochance of being honestly duplicated, e.g., a social security number),reasonably unique number (a number with a statistically small chance ofbeing duplicated), or non-unique number (a number with a large chance ofbeing duplicated). While a SID comprising a unique number willinherently provide more security, the present invention is not solimited.

In another embodiment, a secondary ID number is utilized in the eventthat an individual does not remember the SID. In this embodiment, thesecondary ID number is any number the consumer registered duringenrollment, such as, but not limited to, a home phone number, work phonenumber, social security number, or driver's license number.

Continuing with the enrollment process, after all consumer data isentered, all data entered is transmitted to the central database 204.The consumer's data is compared to data already registered in centraldatabase 204 for uniqueness 206. This re-enrollment check enables thesystem to prevent multiple enrollments from the same consumer and helpsalert the system to potentially fraudulent enrollments. In checking forre-enrollment, central database 204 searches data contained therein toverify that one or more parts of the enrolling consumer's data is notenrolled in the system of the invention. If the enrolling consumer'sdata is not found in the enrolled accounts in the system, the enrollmentprocess continues 222.

If the enrolling consumer's data is found in the central database 204and the account where the duplicate information if sound is not markedas a pre-enrollment account, the enrollment is automatically declined bycentral database 204. In another embodiment of the present invention,the merchant decides whether to accept or decline the enrollment. Inthis embodiment, the process further comprises displaying to themerchant the field(s) or entire account(s) wherein those duplicatefields are held. This enables the merchant to decide whether or not toaccept an enrollment where only select information is duplicated, suchas a phone number or address. Also, in this embodiment, a merchant ispermitted to set parameters that would automatically accept of declinean enrollment based on the merchant's selected criteria.

If the enrollment is declined 208, whether it is declined by thedatabase, the merchant, or merchant pre-set parameters, the enroller isgiven the opportunity to call the system's customer service. Asillustrated in FIG. 2, this contact is immediately available at thepoint of enrollment.

If the enrolling consumer's data is not found in any of the databaseswithin the system's central database, the enrollment continues bydisplaying an authorization notice 222. Once authorized by the consumer,this authorization gives any enrolled merchant permission to access theconsumer's financial accounts associated with the consumer subject toverification of the consumer's identity by making the consumer's SID andat least one biometric identifier with consumer's registered data. Thefollowing illustrates one form of such an authorization message:

-   -   “I authorize the central database authority to electronically        access my accounts for financial purposes upon presentation of        my biological identicators or account management purposes upon        presentation of my biological identicators or selected password        over the Internet or via a wireless communication device.”

The consumer if prompted to re-enter at least one earlier enteredbiometric sample 224 to verify that they agree with the authorizationnotice and to authorize future transactions. The biometricallyauthorized authorization notice and all account information remaining inthe local device are transmitted to the invention's central database 226and recorded in the database.

Referring to FIG. 3, a flowchart of a method of employee enrollment intothe invention's system according to an embodiment of the presentinvention is illustrated. This enrollment is for tracking employeetransaction activity within the system and may be used for securitypurposes. The employee enters the employee's biometric and SID 302. Theemployee's personal information, employee information, and merchant-setparameters are also entered 302. The employee information is sent to theinvention's central database 304 where it is compared to other employeeinformation for uniqueness 306. If the employee's information is unique,the local device will display an authorization notice outlining theresponsibilities and parameters the merchant has selected to assign tothem 308. The employee then re-inputs the employee's biometric 310 forverification that the employee understands his or her responsibilitieswithin the invention's system. The employee's information is sent to theinvention's central database 312 where it is recorded.

Referring to FIG. 4, a flowchart of a one-transmission transaction withaccount selection according to an embodiment of the present invention isillustrated. The transaction begins with the consumer selecting to usethe system via a local device. The consumer selected to use theinvention's services to pay for a purchase by selecting the invention'sdesignated “key” on a keypad or selecting the invention's designatedlogo or other visual representation on a digital display. Thetransaction amount is entered 402. The consumer selects the type offinancial account to be used for the purchase and enters the SID andbiometric 404 (herein referred to as the “consumer transactionbiometric). In an alternate embodiment the consumer may select to payfor the purchase with more than one account by selecting multipleaccounts at the account selection prompt.

The type of account the consumer chooses may be any account that theyhave previously registered with the invention's central database beforethe time of purchase. In an embodiment of the present invention, thedisplay comprises any Checking 1, Visa 1, Visa 2, American Express 1,American Express 2, and American Express 3. This embodiment of thedisplay consists of an alphanumeric display consisting of two parts: 1)the alpha, which indicates the type of account represented, and 2) thenumeric. In an alternate embodiment, the numeric further designates thepriority of the account or the frequent use of the account. For example,the consumer may have registered a Visa account upon enrollment. Thisbeing the first Visa account registered in the system, the account wouldbe automatically labeled in the system as Visa 1. However, if theconsumer registers an additional Visa account, the system willautomatically mark the second account as Visa 2. The consumer mightlater have the option of marking the second registered Visa account asthe Visa account of choice within the system and thus make it Visa 1while the previously registered Visa account would be labeled Visa 2. Inthis embodiment, the default function of the numeric character is torepresent order of enrollment per account subject to reassignment by theconsumer.

After the consumer makes an account selection, the consumer'stransaction biometric is held at the local device while the remainingtransaction information is sent to the invention's central database 408.In an alternate embodiment, the system is configured to sent only selectinformation to the central database. The central database uses thetransaction information to find registered biometrics that are potentialmatches to the consumer's transaction biometric 410. The transaction isalso checked against system pre-approval parameters used to help thesystem determine whether or not the transaction should be approved. Inanother embodiment, the system checks the transaction against merchantpre-set parameters, which merchants may set through account maintenance.

All information obtained from the central database is returned to thelocal device 412. The potential matches are compared to the consumer'stransaction biometric 414. If a positive biometric match is made, thetransaction is automatically approved 424. In no biometric match ismade, if the transaction biometric is matched with an account markednegative, or if the pre-approval parameters are not met, the transactionis declined 428 and the merchant and consumer are notified.

If the consumer's transaction biometric is matched to a biometric linkedto either an account marked warning or negative the transaction isdeclined. Optionally, the system may be configured to allow merchants tochoose whether to approve or decline a transaction resulting from such amatch, the merchant may either manually select to accept or decline thetransaction or the merchant may set pre-approval parameters that wouldautomatically approve or decline the transaction.

Where the merchant is empowered to chose to accept or decline atransaction, the local device may also be configured to display awarning message, a warning message containing a reason the transactionmight have been declined by a central authority, or a warning messagewith a reason for potential decline and other information about theconsumer's system account. Such information might provide the merchantwith information upon which to base a transaction decision.

Once an approval or decline has been made, the local device informs theconsumer of the transaction results via digital display or printedreceipt. The system may also be configured to print or display to theconsumer a reason that the transaction was declined and a phone numberto a service center to call for further explanation.

The system may additionally be configured to allow consumers to requestcash back from the merchant. If the system is configured to allow cashback, the cash back process, although it is integrated into atransaction already in progress, is considered a separate transactionthat is approved or declined separately from the transaction already inprogress. In one embodiment, the cash back option automatically beginsafter either the transaction amount is entered 402 or the consumerselects the type of financial account to be used to make a purchase andenters the consumer's SID and biometric 404. However, in anotherembodiment, the consumer requests cash back by selecting a specificbutton on the local device or picture on the display of the localdevice. In the automatic embodiment, the local device asks the consumerif they would like cash back from the merchant. If the consumer selectsto not receive cash back, the transaction continues as normal. If theconsumer selects to receive cash back, they are prompted to enter theamount of cash back they desire or select an amount from a list ofamounts displayed by the local device. Once a cash back amount isentered, the transaction is marked as a cash back transaction and thetransaction continues as usual. Once the transaction information is sentto the system's central database, this mark signals the central databaseto verify that the selected accounts of the potential biometric matchesallow cash back. If an account is verified as allowing cash back, itslinked biometric is flagged. This flag signals to the local device thatthe cash back is approved if the consumer's transaction biometric ismatched to a flagged biometric. Additionally, the cash back option maybe regulated by system or merchant pre-set parameters. The cash backoption would proceed similarly in the consumer-activated cash backoption.

Referring to FIG. 5, a one-transmission transaction with account autoselection according to an embodiment of the present invention isillustrated. This transaction allows a consumer who only has onefinancial account registered with the system or has set a preferredaccount to proceed with the transaction without selecting which accountthey would like to use. Therefore, account selection information is notsent to the central database along with the transaction information. Thetransaction information is entered 502. The consumer enters theconsumer's SID and biometric 504. The local device runs the cash backoption if the system is configured to do so. All transaction informationexcept for the consumer's transaction biometric is transmitted to thecentral database 506. In an alternate embodiment, the system may beconfigured to send only select information to the central database. Thecentral database finds potential biometric matches for the consumer'stransaction biometric 508. Additionally, if the system is configured toallow cash back and the consumer has indicated they would like cash backfrom the merchant, the central database flags the potentially matchingbiometrics that are linked to financial accounts that allow cash back.The central database sends the potential matches and a transactionpre-approval to the local device 510. The local device determineswhether or not any of the potential biometric matches match theconsumer's biometric 512. If the consumer's identity is verified thetransaction is approved and the consumer and merchant are notified 514.Additionally, if the consumer requested cash back from the merchant, thelocal device determines if the matching biometric is flagged. If thebiometric is flagged, the cash back request is fulfilled and the devicenotifies the merchant of how much cash the system has approved givingthe consumer.

If the consumer's identity is not verified or the consumer is negativelyidentified, the transaction will be declined with a reason and themerchant and consumer will be notified 516. Optionally, the merchant maydecide to accept or decline the transaction if a negative identificationhas been made.

Referring to FIG. 6, a two-transmission transaction with accountselection according to an embodiment of the present invention isillustrated. The transaction amount is entered 602 and the consumerselects the type of account to be used to make a purchase and enters theconsumer's SID and biometric 604. In an alternate embodiment theconsumer may select to pay for the purchase with more than one accountby selecting multiple accounts at the account selection prompt. Thetransaction information is sent to the invention's central database tosearch for potential biometric matches to the consumer's transactionbiometric 606. In an alternate embodiment, the system may be configuredto send only select information to the central database. The centraldatabase finds potential matches 608. If the system is configured toallow cash back and the consumer had indicated they would like cash backfrom the merchant, the central database flags the potentially matchingbiometrics that are linked to financial accounts that allow cash back.The potential matches are returned to the local device 610. The localdevice compares those potential matches with the consumer's transactionbiometric 612. If a positive match is found, the full transaction packetis sent to the central database 614. In an alternate embodiment, theconsumer is permitted to request cash back prior to transmission of thefull transaction packet if the consumer did not already do so.

The central database determined whether or not the transaction should beapproved or declined 616. In one embodiment, prior to approving ordeclining a transaction, the central database communicates with thefinancial institution that houses the consumer's selected account. Inanother embodiment, the central database communicates with a financialdatabase that holds credit scoring on the consumer. In yet anotherembodiment, the central database communicates with other financialdatabases to obtain financial information about the consumer relevant todetermining whether or not the consumer has sufficient funds to coverthe transaction. In still another embodiment, the central databasesimply evaluates the transaction based upon system, merchant, and/orconsumer parameters.

If the transaction is approved, the merchant and consumer are notified618. If the consumer requested cash back during the transaction and wereapproved for the cash back amount selected, the merchant is notified ofthe amount of cash back. If the transaction is declined, notice is sentto the local device 620, along with a reason the transaction wasdeclined. Optionally, the merchant may decide to accept or decline thetransaction if a negative identification has been made.

Referring to FIG. 7, a two-transmission transaction with account autoselection according to an embodiment of the present invention isillustrated. The transaction amount is entered 702. The consumer entersthe SID and biometric 704. Transaction information other than theconsumer's transaction biometric is transmitted to the invention'scentral database 706. In an alternate embodiment, the system may beconfigured to sent only select information to the central database. Thecentral database finds potential biometric matches for the consumer'stransaction biometric 708, and if the cash back option was selected bythe consumer, the central database flags biometrics that are linked tofinancial accounts that allow cash back. All potential biometric matchesare sent to the local device 710. The local device determines whether ornot a match between the potential biometric matches and the consumer'stransaction biometric can be made 712. The local device sends the fulltransaction packet to the central database 714. As with thetwo-transmission transaction with account selection (illustrated in FIG.6), the central database determines whether or not the transaction isapproved or denied 716. (See the description of various exemplaryembodiments relating to transaction approval in reference to FIG. 6.).If the transaction is approved 718, the merchant and consumer arenotified and the merchant is notified of the cash back amount ifapplicable. If the transaction is denied 720, the merchant and consumerare notified and given a reason for the declined transaction.Optionally, the merchant may decide to accept or decline the transactionif a negative identification has been made.

Referring to FIG. 8, a flowchart of a credit transaction according to anembodiment of the present invention is illustrated. The merchant entersthe SID and biometric 802. The credit amount is entered 804. Theconsumer enters the SID and biometric 806. In an alternate embodiment,the number of the transaction being credited is also entered. All dataentered is transmitted to the invention's central database 808. If thecentral database identifies the merchant and consumer 810, andoptionally the transaction number, the credit is approved and themerchant and consumer are notified 814. If either of the party'sidentities is not verified, the transaction may result in any of thefollowing: an automatic transaction decline, a system ID re-entry loop,or a merchant manual or automatic approval or decline. If the consumeris negatively identified, the transaction might be automaticallydeclined with a reason and the merchant and consumer would be notifiedof the decline and the reason for the decline. In addition, if theconsumer is negatively identified, the merchant might opt to decidewhether or not to approve the transaction. The merchant might thenmanually accept or decline the transaction or its pre-set parametersmight automatically accept or decline the transaction for them. Anadditional embodiment of the credit transaction comprises the merchantinformation being evaluated in the local database. Such an embodimentwould allow the local device to communicate a smaller set of transactioninformation to the central database. Yet a further embodiment of thecredit transaction comprises the merchant conducting the transactionwithout entering the merchant biometric and SID.

Referring to FIG. 9 a credit transaction with local matching accordingto an embodiment of the present invention is illustrated. A merchantenters the SID and biometric 902. The credit amount is entered 904.Optionally, if credits are limited to transactions previously run, thetransaction number is entered into the local device. The consumer entersthe SID and biometric 906. The merchant's SID and consumer's SID aretransmitted to the central database 908. The central database returnspotential biometric matches for the merchant's and consumer'stransaction biometrics 910. The local device determines whether or notsaid matches can be found 912. If matches are found, the credit isdenied and the merchant and consumer are notified 914. If matches arenot found, the credit is denied and the merchant and consumer arenotified 916. In an additional embodiment, the credit transaction withlocal matching comprises the merchant conducting the transaction withoutentering the merchant biometric and SID.

Referring to FIG. 10, a flowchart of a void transaction according to anembodiment of the present invention is illustrated. The merchant entersthe transaction number to void 1002. The transaction information is sentto the invention's central database 1004. The invention's centraldatabase finds the transaction number 1006. If a match is found, thevoid is approved and notice is sent to the local device 1008 where themerchant is notified. If no transaction number match is found, the voidis denied and notice is sent to the local device. In another embodiment,the void transaction comprises the merchant entering the merchant'sbiometric and SID. In another embodiment, the merchant's biometric ismatched in the central database. In yet another embodiment, themerchant's SID is used to find potential biometric matches that thecentral database returns to the local device where a match is found.

Referring to FIG. 11, a flow chart of a system ID re-entry loopaccording to an embodiment of the present invention is illustrated. Inan embodiment of the present invention, an SID re-entry loop isperformed after any transaction or account access identification failure1104, meaning no identification of the presented party (whomever isattempting to access an account i.e. consumer, employee, or merchant),positive or negative, was made. The local device will display the SIDthe party entered, and the party will be prompted to verify that the SIDdisplayed is the SID they intended to enter 1106. If the party verifiesthat the SID displayed is correct, the device will prompt the party toenter a secondary ID number 1114. The party will then enter a secondaryID number (as previously described). The secondary ID number is sent tothe invention's central database to attempt party identity verificationagain 1116. If verification based on the secondary ID fails, thetransaction is declined with a reason and the merchant and party arenotified 1118.

If the party does not verify the SID the device displays, the party willbe prompted to enter the correct SID 1108. The new SID is sent to thecentral database. If verification fails again, the party will beprompted to enter a secondary ID number 1114. If the secondary ID numberhelps provide an identifying match, the transaction continues forapproval 1112. If the secondary ID number does not help provide acorrect match, the transaction is declined with a reason 1118, and theparty is notified.

Referring to FIG. 12, a flowchart of an account management access methodwith use of a device connected to a biometric reader according to anembodiment of the present invention is illustrated. This embodimentpermits consumers, merchants, and employees to perform accountmanagement of accounts held at the central database. In an alternateembodiment, merchants may limit their employees to certain areas of themerchant's accounts or may not allow employees to perform maintenance onthe merchant's accounts at all. In an yet another embodiment, anemployee's access data (biometric plus SID or password plus SID) and themerchant's access data (biometric plus SID or password plus SID). Thesystem may also be configured so that the merchant may access anemployee's account without the employee's permission.

In account maintenance, the account manager—whomever is performingaccount management, such as the consumer, the employee, or themerchant—enters the SID and biometric 1202. The local device sends theSID and biometric to the central database 1204. The central databasesearches for a match to the manager's entered information 1206 foridentity verification purposes. If the manager is identified, themanager is allowed to access accounts for management purposes 1208, andthe manager performs account maintenance 1210. If the central databaseis unable to match the manager's SID and biometric, the accountmanagement access is denied. The system may also be configured toregulate account access according to certain parameters. Additionally,the time an account access remains idle may be regulated by a time-outfeature. For example, if a merchant is performing account maintenanceand walks away from the account maintenance machine for a few minutes,the system will automatically log the merchant out to prevent bystandersfrom accessing the merchant's account.

Although the drawings of this application and the corresponding detaileddescriptions mainly describe merchants as the enrollment and transactionoperators of the system, it is envisioned that merchant employees willalso operate enrollment and transaction functions within the system. Thesystem may be configured to allow all merchant employees who areregistered in the system to perform enrollment and transactionfunctions. Additionally, the system may be configured to allow merchantsto set their merchant employees' function allowances within the system,by pre-setting employee function parameters during employee enrollmentor employee account maintenance.

Additionally, it is envisioned that all transactions and functionswithin the system allow for various types of transactions and functionsto be performed that are credit card related such as but not limited topre-authorization, authorization, post-authorization, terminalsettlement, and host settlement.

Following is a description of various additional embodiments and methodsof the system.

In an alternate embodiment, consumers may also set pre-set parametersthat help the system determine whether or not a transaction should beapproved. Such pre-set parameters may include but are not limited toconsumers setting a limit on how much may be spent out of a specificaccount, regulating the merchant and/or geometric region in which anaccount may be accessed, and also allowing other consumers to use asystem account to pay for purchases. For further detail of how aconsumer might allow other users to access an account see commonlyassigned application Ser. No. 09/765,789, filed by Tim Robinson on Jan.19, 2001. The Ser. No. 09/765,789 application is incorporated byreference herein, in its entirety, for all purposes.

According to a hybrid embodiment, the system of the invention mayoptionally include enrollment, purchase, or cash withdrawal functions atnon-conventional POS sites, provided those sites equipped with theproper system equipment. Non-conventional POS sites might include butare not limited to PCs; ATMs; wireless devices; specially equippedpayphones; self-checkout POS register stations where multiple registersare monitored by one merchant and where a consumer physically processesthe consumer's transactions; unattended, automated cash registers suchas those that exist in most gas pumps; vending machines; or any otherautomated and/or non-traditional POS sits.

According to an additional hybrid embodiment, the system might allowconsumers to choose whether to enroll into the system without providingany financial account information. If a consumer enrolls financialaccount information, the consumer may use the entirety of the system.However, if a consumer chooses to not enter any financial accountinformation, they may use the system for non-financial transactions suchas but not limited to identity verification, age verification, or areward/loyalty type system, a merchant might connect to the system.

It is also an additional embodiment of the present invention foraccounts enrolled at a specific merchant to be recorded and stored onthe merchant's local database before the information is transmitted toand stored on the invention's central database. Such storage would befor information back up and could be used for transaction matchingpurposes for consumers who enrolled with said merchant's devices in theevent that the system's central database is unavailable for informationaccess. In such an embodiment, the merchant's equipment might also beconfigured to communicated directly with the local database at any oneor all of the transmission or reception steps within the enrollment ortransaction processes instead of communicating with the system's centraldatabase. This embodiment would comprise the merchant later connectingwith the invention's central database to update newly enrolled accountswithin said central database and to authorize money transfers fromtransactions logged earlier in the day.

An additional embodiment of the invention comprises encryptinginformation transferred between two points in the system. For purposesof example and without limitation, transaction information may beencrypted at one point and sent across a non-secure connection betweenthe points or not encrypted at a point of communication but sent to theother point of communication across a secure connection. Encryption anddecryption of said messages may be monitored by services provided by acompany such as VeriSign. As an added level of security one alternateembodiment encrypts even information internal to a terminal and which isnever transmitted in a communication. This prevents retrieval ofsensitive information (e.g., data corresponding to a biometric scan)from a stolen terminal.

An additional feature of the present invention comprises an individualenrolling in the system of the invention the ability to register apassword that in conjunction with a SID would allow the individual toperform account maintenance of a system account over the Internet from aremote device.

Another embodiment of the invention comprises the central databaseproviding consumers and employees with SID suggestions if the enteredSID is already registered within the system. These suggested SIDs areenvisioned as SIDs that are not already registered in the system but aresimilar to the SID the consumer or employee originally entered.

According to another hybrid embodiment, the system might be configuredto ask that the merchant supervising the consumer enrollment and/ortransactions input the merchant's biometric for employee tracking and/orverification purposes.

An additional feature of the system allows direct transition from anenrollment into a POS transaction without starting a new transaction.This would allow a consumer to enroll into the system just before theypurchase an item and then begin purchasing the item without having thereenter the consumer's biometric and SID.

According to another hybrid embodiment, all or select enrollments,transactions, and account access methods may additionally compriseprinting a paper receipt of the system activity performed during thesystem access. Information included on this receipt may be anyinformation pertinent to the transaction type, including but not limitedto date, transaction number, account used, the invention's customerservice phone number, instructions on how to contact the invention'scustomer service, merchant info, or other transaction information.

In an additional embodiment, the order in which information is enteredneed not be definite. For example, a consumer may be prompted to enteridentifying information before the transaction amount is entered or theconsumer may enter a biometric before entering a SID.

It is also an alternate embodiment of the present invention to providemerchants with consumer and employer profile reports in case ofsuspected fraudulent activity. These reports may be customized todisplay selected information from an employee's or consumer's accounthistory or record.

According to another hybrid embodiment, the system may be configured tosent the local device's TID along with transaction information forconsumer security purposes. If the TID is not registered with theinvention's central database, the consumer's information is notprocessed. Optionally, the local device display may give the consumer asystem customer service number to call and a transaction code toreference during the call, so they may find out whey the transaction wasdeclined.

In an additional embodiment, the system may also comprise anage-verification feature. This feature would allow merchants to verify aconsumer's age if that consumer is attempting to purchase age-regulateditems, such as cigarettes or alcohol. This feature may be combined withthe consumer using the system to pay for the purchase containing theage-regulated items or may be a function separate from the purchases, inthe event that the consumer is registered with the system but wouldprefer paying for a purchase with an alternate from or payment, such ascash, certificate(s), or a credit card the consumer has not yetregistered with the system. For the age verification access withoutfinancial account access, the consumer would simply be prompted to enterthe consumer's biometric and SID into the system for age verification.

It is also an alternate embodiment to provide merchants with atransaction re-add function in the case that a transaction inadvertentlyvoided. Current credit card financial procedures completely erase atransaction once that transaction has been voided and force merchantswho need to re-add a mistakenly voided transaction to create a newtransaction by either re-swiping the consumer's card (if the consumer isstill present) or manually entering the consumer's credit card numberinto a keypad. Since the system of the current invention does notauthorize credit transactions by account numbers but does so bybiometrics, an alternative method of correcting an inadvertent void mustbe introduced. A transaction re-add function would enable merchants andauthorized merchant employees to easily re-add voided transactions intothe system upon need. Such a function might be enabled by the authorizedfunction operator pressing a button on the local device or by selectingthe function from an electronic display. This function might alsocomprise the authorized function operator to provide biometric and/orSID in order to access the function.

In a hybrid embodiment of the invention, the system might offer amerchant manager function menu. Such a menu might be accessed bymanagers with access privilege noted in the merchant's system accounts.The menu might be accessed by the manager pressing a button or selectinga menu representative image on a system integrated terminal display andby presenting a scan of the manager's biometric. Once the system hasverified the manager's identity and verified that they are allowedaccess to the merchant menu, the system will allow the manager to selectvarious functions from the manager function menu. Such functions mightinclude but are not limited to conducting a credit or sale without aconsumer biometric, performing a re-add void, or performing a forcetransaction, wherein the manager forces the system to accept atransaction that the stem declined.

In an alternate embodiment, consumer system accounts may be associatedwith a financial score which may include scoring gathered from existingcredit scoring databases or may include scoring generated by theconsumer's history within the system of the invention. This score maythen be used as a pre-approval parameter.

In an additional embodiment of the two transmission transactions, thetransaction might be assigned a reference number to speed transactionprocessing when the second transmission is sent to the central database.

In an additional hybrid embodiment, digital images of all biometricsscanned for registration or enrollment purposes are stored in thesystem's central database.

A biometric identification system for financial transactions has beenillustrated. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that thesystem and method of the present invention can be used to performfinancial transactions without physical access devices and prevent fraudin such areas as retail sales, access to bank accounts, and financialand information transactions of many different kinds. For example, it isanticipated that the present invention will find utility in preventingunauthorized access to information stored on various types ofinformation servers and not simply for the use in access of funds. Itwill thus be appreciated by those skilled in the art that othervariations of the present invention will be possible without departingfrom the scope of the invention as disclosed.

1. A method for authorizing a debit payment transaction, comprising:collecting a transaction data and a customer registration data at apoint of sale terminal the customer registration data comprising atleast a candidate biometric sample and a unique identifier; transmittingthe unique identifier from the point of sale terminal to a centralserver; transmitting a primary reference template and a debit accountdata from the central server to the point of sale terminal; determiningwhether the candidate biometric sample matches the primary referencetemplate; determining whether the debit payment transaction should beauthorized based on predetermined criteria; and if it is determined thatthe candidate biometric sample matches the primary reference templateand it is determined that the debit payment transaction should beauthorized based on predetermined criteria, then authorizing the debitpayment transaction.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein thetransaction data comprises a merchant offer and a customer acceptance.3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the transaction datacomprises a transaction amount.
 4. The method according to claim 1,wherein the candidate biometric sample comprises the fingerprint data.5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the debit account datacomprises data regarding an available balance in a customer debitaccount from which the debit payment transaction is to be funded.
 6. Themethod according to claim 5, wherein the customer debit account is apre-funded stored value account.
 7. The method according to claim 1,wherein the step of determining whether the debit payment transactionshould be authorized based on predetermined criteria comprisesdetermining whether a customer debit account has sufficient fundsavailable to cover the debit payment transaction.
 8. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the debit account data comprises dataregarding a plurality of customer debit accounts and the method furthercomprises: displaying information regarding the plurality of customerdebit accounts via the point of sale terminal; accepting a customerselection via the point of sale terminal of one of the plurality ofcustomer debit accounts from which the debit payment transaction is tobe funded; and using the customer selection in determining whether thedebit payment transaction should be authorized based on predeterminedcriteria.
 9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the debit accountdata comprises data regarding a plurality of customer debit accounts andthe method further comprises: displaying information regarding theplurality of customer debit accounts via the point of sale terminal;accepting a customer selection via the point of sale terminal of two ormore of the plurality of customer debit accounts from which the debitpayment transaction is to be funded, the customer selection includingthe amount of the debit payment transaction that is to be funded fromeach selected customer debit account; and using the customer selectionin determining whether the debit payment transaction should beauthorized based on predetermined criteria.
 10. The method according toclaim 6, wherein if it is determined that the debit payment transactionshould not be authorized due to insufficient funds in the pre-fundedstored value account, then the method further comprises: providing anoffer via the point of sale terminal to transfer funds into thepre-funded stored value account from a registered customer checkingaccount; if the offer is accepted from requesting the customer to inputvia the point of sale terminal an amount to be transferred; issuing acredit block request for the amount to be transferred to an issuing bankof a collateral credit account; and if the credit block request isconfirmed by the issuing bank, then transmitting a request to transferfunds from the registered customer checking account to the pre-fundedstored value account and authorizing the debit payment transaction. 11.A method for authorizing a debit payment transaction, comprising:collecting a transaction data and a customer registration data at apoint of sale terminal the customer registration data comprising atleast a candidate biometric sample and a unique identifier; transmittingthe unique identifier from the point of sale terminal to a centralserver; transmitting a primary reference template from the centralserver to the point of sale terminal; determining whether the candidatebiometric sample matches the primary reference template; if thecandidate biometric sample matches the primary reference template, thentransmitting a debit account data from the central server to the pointof sale terminal; if it is determined that the debit payment transactionshould be authorized based on predetermined criteria, then authorizingthe debit payment transaction.
 12. The method according to claim 11,wherein the transaction data comprises a merchant offer fingerprintdata.
 13. The method according to claim 11, wherein the transaction datacomprises a transaction amount.
 14. The method according to claim 11,wherein the candidate biometric sample comprises fingerprint data. 15.The method according to claim 11, wherein the debit account datacomprises data regarding available funds in a customer debit account.16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the customer debit accountis a pre-funded stored value account.
 17. The method according to claim11, wherein the step of determining whether the debit paymenttransaction should be authorized based on predetermined criteriacomprises determining whether a customer debit account has sufficientfunds available to cover the debit payment transaction.
 18. The methodaccording to claim 11, wherein the debit account data comprises dataregarding a plurality of customer debit accounts and the method furthercomprises: displaying information regarding the plurality of customerdebit accounts via the point of sale terminal; accepting a customerselection via the point of sale terminal of one of the plurality ofcustomer debit accounts from which the debit payment transaction is tobe funded; and using the customer selection is determining whether thedebit payment transaction should be authorized based on predeterminedcriteria.
 19. The method according to claim 11, wherein the debitaccount data comprises data regarding a plurality of customer debitaccounts and the method further comprises: displaying informationregarding the plurality of customer debit accounts via the point of saleterminal; accepting a customer selection via the point of sale terminalof two or more of the plurality of customer debit accounts from whichthe debit payment transaction is to be funded, the customer selectionincluding the amount of the debit payment transaction that is to befunded from each selected customer debit account; and using the customerselection in determining whether the debit payment transaction should beauthorized based on the transaction data and the debit account data. 20.The method according to claim 16, wherein if it is determined that thedebit payment transaction should not be authorized due to insufficientfunds in the pre-funded stored value account, then the method furthercomprises: providing an offer via the point of sale terminal to transferfunds into the pre-funded stored value account from a registeredcustomer checking account; if the offer is accepted, then requesting thecustomer to input via the point of sale terminal an amount to betransferred; issuing a credit block request for the amount to betransferred to an issuing bank of a collateral credit account; if thecredit block request is confirmed by the issuing bank, then transmittinga request to transfer funds from the registered customer checkingaccount to the pre-funded stored value account and authorizing the debitpayment transaction.
 21. The method for authorizing a credit paymenttransaction, comprising: collecting a transaction data and a customerregistration data at a point of sale terminal, the customer registrationdata comprising at least a candidate biometric sample and a uniqueidentifier; transmitting the unique identifier from the point of saleterminal to a central server; transmitting a primary reference templateand a credit account data from the central server to the point of saleterminal; determining whether the candidate biometric sample matches theprimary reference template; and if it is determined that the candidatebiometric sample matches the primary reference template, then sending anauthenticated authorization request to an issuing bank corresponding tothe credit account data.
 22. The method according to claim 21, whereinthe transaction data comprises a merchant offer and a customeracceptance.
 23. The method according to claim 21, wherein thetransaction data comprises a transaction amount.
 24. The methodaccording to claim 21, wherein the candidate biometric sample comprisesfingerprint data.
 25. The method according to claim 21, wherein thecredit account data comprises data regarding a registered customercredit account.
 26. The method according to claim 25, wherein theregistered customer credit account is a VISA®, MASTERCARD®, or DISCOVER®account.
 27. The method according to claim 21, wherein the creditaccount data comprises data regarding a plurality of registered customercredit accounts and the method further comprises: displaying informationregarding the plurality of registered customer credit accounts via thepoint of sale terminal; accepting a customer selection via the point ofsale terminal of one of the plurality of registered customer creditaccounts from which the credit payment transaction is to be funded; andusing the customer selection in sending the authenticated authorizationrequest to the issuing bank corresponding to the selected creditaccount.
 28. The method according to claim 21, wherein the creditaccount data comprises data regarding a plurality of registered customercredit accounts and the method further comprises: displaying informationregarding the plurality of registered customer credit accounts via thepoint of sale terminal; accepting a customer selection via the point ofsale terminal of two or more of the plurality of registered customercredit accounts from which the credit payment transaction is to befunded, the customer selection including a amount of the credit paymenttransaction to be funded from each selected registered customer creditaccount; and using the customer selection in sending the authenticatedauthorization request to the issuing bank for each selected registeredcustomer credit account.
 29. The method for authorizing a debit paymenttransaction, comprising: collecting a transaction data and a customerregistration data at a point of sale terminal, the customer registrationdata comprising at least a candidate biometric sample and a uniqueidentifier; transmitting the unique identifier from the point of saleterminal to a central server; transmitting a primary reference templateand a debit account data from the central server to the point of saleterminal, the debit account data comprising data regarding availablefunds in a pre-funded stored value account from which the debit paymenttransaction is to be funded; determining whether the candidate biometricsample matches the primary reference template; determining whether thedebit payment transaction should be authorized based on predeterminedcriteria; if it is determined that the candidate biometric samplematches the primary reference template and it is determined that thedebit payment transaction should not be authorized due to insufficientfunds in the pre-funded stored value account, then providing an offervia the point of sale terminal to transfer funds into the pre-fundedstored value account from a registered customer checking account; if theoffer is accepted, then requesting the customer to input via the pointof sale terminal an amount to be transferred; issuing a credit blockrequest for the amount to be transferred to an issuing bank of acollateral credit account; and if the credit block request is confirmedby the issuing bank, then transmitting a request to transfer funds fromthe registered customer checking account to the pre-funded stored valueaccount and authorizing the debit payment transaction.